We left our motel at 4:30 am to return to the Waunita Springs Lek. The blind was already booked, though we’d been told we could return and watch from our cars. And from our cars, we could see STARS!! What a difference 24 hours makes! In the total darkness when we arrived, we could hear the burbling brook next to the road, and as the horizon slowly materialized, Horned Larks, Mallards, and a Wilson’s Snipe started calling. Then a whole pack of coyotes started yipping, and our hearts sunk. Meanwhile, we were hearing very soft grouse calls. I don’t think my directional microphone picked them up, but I’ll have time to listen closely when I get home. As the darkness slowly lifted, we could count 8 grouse (the guide who had an Audubon group in the blind later told us she counted 9). The birds were over a quarter of a mile away, and between darkness and distance, I couldn’t get any photos until after a Golden Eagle had chased away all but one. My photos of that male are horrible, but I don’t even care, I was so delighted to see this splendid bird.

We waited in our cars until the people left the blind, and then we drove slowly up the road a mile or so, just in case a grouse was near. And sure enough, a female flushed ahead of us and landed where we could (just barely) pick her out among the sagebrush. Again, my photos are poor because it was clouding up and not at all light yet, but again, I don’t even care!

We headed to Steamboat Springs through horrible blizzard conditions. Cars, pickup trucks, and huge semis had skidded off the road, and driving was a nightmare!! But we made it safe and sound. We were hoping to scout for Dusky Grouse at California Park at dusk, but the road was much too soft to be passable, so that was that.

My day’s list:

Canada Goose
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Common Goldeneye (some people saw a female Barrow’s Goldeneye, too)
Common Merganser
** GUNNISON SAGE-GROUSE!! LIFER!
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Prairie Falcon
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Wilson’s Snipe
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker
* Say’s Phoebe
Steller’s Jay
Pinyon Jay
Clark’s Nutcracker
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Chickadee (Mountain or Black-capped)
American Dipper
Mountain Bluebird
American Robin
European Starling
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
House Finch
House Sparrow